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Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is the third episode of season five of the American sci-fi anthology series The Twilight Zone. This episode was directed by Richard Donner and was written by author Richard Matheson. It first aired on CBS on Friday, October 11th, 1963. The plot of the episode centers a man named Bob Wilson, a salesman who takes a commercial flight for the first time in six months after being released from a mental hospital following a nervous breakdown. During the flight, Bob believes that he sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane, but nobody else believes him. Synopsis Bob Wilson and his wife Julia board a passenger flight en route to their home town. Bob has only recently been released from a mental hospital where he spent six months in therapy after suffering a nervous breakdown on a previous flight. Although he's been cured, Bob is still extremely uncomfortable about taking this flight. The plane takes off and Julia takes a sleeping pill to help her get some rest. Bob is riveted wide awake however and tries to read a newspaper. He stops reading when he notices something bizarre outside his window. He sees a furry, humanoid creature lumbering across the wing of the plane. Bob summons the flight attendant over to him, but when he tries to point it out, the creature is nowhere to be seen. Julia awakens, but Bob only partially tells her the truth about what he had seen. At Julia's recommendation, Bob finally agrees to take a sleeping pill. A few moments later, Julia nods off, but Bob is still overwhelmed with agitation. Reluctantly, he pulls back the curtain on his cabin window, only to find the hairy creature staring right back at him. Bob again calls the flight attendant over and directs her to the window. The creature however, climbs over the top of the plane and she does not see him. After the stewardess leaves, the monster floats back down onto the wing of the plane and begins curiously looking around. It then starts tearing up part of the plating that covers the engine. appears.]] Bob awakens Julia and finally tells her that he has been seeing a strange "gremlin" crawling across the wing. She doesn't know what to make of this. He adds that the creature jumps away whenever somebody other than he looks out the window. This only serves to make Bob appear as if he's having another breakdown. Julia tries to be patient with him, but Bob finds her behavior to be patronizing. He tells her that this gremlin has begun tampering with one of the engines. Whether she believes him or not, Bob asks her to go to the flight engineer and bring him back so Bob can tell him what he's seen. Julia brings the flight engineer to him, and Bob relays the same story that he had told to Julia. The engineer tries to keep Bob calm, but when Wilson points to the engine, he sees no evidence of the alleged damage caused by the gremlin. The flight engineer leaves and Julia goes to get Bob some water for his sleeping pills. At this point, Bob sees the gremlin on the wing of the plane again. Bob only pretends to take the pills, and after he sees the gremlin tearing at the engine plate again, he decides to get up out of his seat. He sneaks across the cabin of the plane and steals a handgun from an inattentive security guard. He opens the auxiliary hatch on the cabin window and the plane begins depressurizing. Bob is pulled halfway out the window, but his seat belt keeps him secured to his seat. He fires the gun, hitting the monster several times. The plane eventually lands and Bob is arrested and secured to a gurney. He is taken off the plane and loaded into an ambulance ready to return him to the sanitarium. Nobody notices the tears and scratches along the engine plating on the top of the plane's wing. Cast Notes & Trivia * Production code number: 2605 * "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is adapted from a 1961 short story by Richard Matheson originally published in Alone by Night. The episode was remade as segment #4 in the 1983 film Twilight Zone: The Movie. The role of Bob Wilson was renamed John Valentine and was played by John Lithgow. A humorous jab at the character was made in the "Dick's Big Giant Headache (Part 1)" episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, which starred John Lithgow as a series regular with a special guest appearance by William Shatner as The Big Giant Head. Lithgow's character met Shatner's character at the airport and asked him about his trip, to which the Big Giant Head replied, "Horrifying, at first. I looked out the window and... I saw something on the side of the plane." Lithgow's Dick Solomon reacted with shock saying, "The same thing happened to me!" * This was William Shatner's second and arguably, most famous appearance in The Twilight Zone. He also played a character named Don Carter in the season two episode "Nick of Time". Shatner will eventually become more famously known for playing the role of James T. Kirk, captain of the starship [[USS Enterprise NCC-1701|USS Enterprise]] in the Star Trek television and film franchises. * Writer Richard Matheson originally wanted to cast Patricia Breslin in the role of Bob's wife, Julia. Breslin played Pat Carter, the wife of Shatner's character from "Nick of Time". The role instead went to Christine White. * Actress Christine White also appeared in the 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Prime Mover". * Blooper: The soles of Nick Cravat's shoes can be seen beneath his gremlin costume. See also External Links * * * "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" at Wikipedia * "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" at TV Rage.com ---- Category:1963/Episodes Category:October, 1963/Episodes